With today's fast paced lifestyle, many parents are often away from home with their infants and toddlers during feeding time. When at home, the parent can clean a contaminated nipple by simply rinsing it under warm water and quickly resume feeding the baby. When away from home, parents are often challenged with finding means to clean a contaminated nipple or cannot locate a spare nipple packed somewhere at the bottom of a crowded diaper bag. While away from home, nearly all parents and child caregivers have experienced the problem of a child dropping feeding bottle on the ground, contaminating the nipple and possibly damaging the bottle. This situation often occurs at an inopportune time and public locations where there are no amenities available or nearby and parents are desperate to find means for disinfecting the bottle nipple before inserting it back into the baby's mouth.
Replacing the nipple in use with the clean nipple conveniently located in the lower storage chamber can often solve this problem.
Furthermore, nipples are available in a variety of types, sizes and shapes. In some cases, it has been found that an infant or toddler prefers the shape of one nipple over another. A nipple that is suitable for a thin liquid such as juice or milk is not suitable for thicker beverages like a formula. Accordingly, a caregiver may be required to have several different baby bottles and different types of nipples available to take along when leaving home.
The multiple chambers are useful for packing many different types of nipples and even a pacifier. Therefore, there is a need for a baby bottle containing storage compartments that can accommodate a wide variety of nipples used with different beverages a baby consumes.
Numerous baby bottles have been patented and available on the market. In the past, the majority of baby bottles have been made from plastic material using Bisphenol A, commonly referred to as BPA, which is a synthetic chemical compound. BPA is actually the key monomer used in the production of polycarbonate (PC) plastic and epoxy resin. PC plastic is hard and often shatter-proof. It is used in a wide range of consumer products such as water bottles, food storage containers, and baby bottles. Bisphenol A, or BPA, has been recently thrust into the public spotlight because of its possible links to serious health issues especially for babies. The present invention will solve this problem by using only FDA approved plastic materials or glass to ensure safety of the baby.
The bottle sleeve benefits the parent and the baby by providing protection for the bottle against damage when dropped, while occupies the baby much like a toy with movement of colorful ornaments inside the clear casing filled with non-toxic gel.
Various types of portable cleaning containers are found on the market retaining cleaning fluid and very few are used to sanitize nipples and pacifiers. One particular container in Prior art patented under U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,537, issued to Sigler; Elizabeth, dated Mar. 3, 1998, entitled “Disinfectant container for pacifier or nipple”, discloses a portable disinfectant container for an infant pacifier or infant nursing nipple, consisting of a half-oval shaped disinfectant container which is provided with a sponge that may be saturated with any appropriate non-toxic disinfectant solution. The disinfectant container has an attached hook for hanging on a purse, baby bag, stroller, or crib. The hinged lid of the disinfectant container may be flipped open and a pacifier or nipple inserted into a slit in the sponge for disinfecting purposes, the absorption qualities of the sponge preventing any type of spillage of the disinfectant.
The prior art utilizes a different type of container using sponge and disinfectant solution for sterilization of the nipple and pacifier, and although the container appears to be useful, it has an important shortcoming. It has been known that sponges attract bacteria; in fact sponges can serve as a medium for the growth of harmful bacteria or fungi, especially when the sponge is allowed to remain wet between uses and not cleaned properly.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a safer method of providing a baby with a sterilized nipple; keeping pre-sterilized nipples or pacifier in a dry storage chamber attached to the feeding bottle protects the baby from intake of possible contaminations and harmful germs often living in porous sponge.
Patented under U.S. Design Pat. No. 5,402,810, Issued to Donley; Beth J., dated Apr. 4, 1995, entitled “Pacifier storage and washing apparatus and method”, discloses a portable apparatus for storing and cleaning pacifiers, including a vessel having a vessel opening for containing cleaning fluid. Although this container may appear to be a useful item, however, such container having liquid cleaning solution inside can leak when not sealed properly therefore, it can stain and ruin other items in a carrying bag or a purse such as wallets, cell phones, and other valuable items. The dry nipple storage chamber solves this problem; it is safe and easily accessed to provide parents or caregivers with sanitized nipples without the mess of the liquid and chemical contents in a container.
A number of dual and multi chamber nursing bottles have been developed. For example; U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,991 issued to Holley, Jr, dated Jul. 26, 2005, entitled “Multi chambered container and two-piece adapter” discloses a multi-chambered substance containment apparatus for separately storing two or more substances in one container having a base and a hollow member that cooperate to open and close a passage between a first chamber provided by a bottle and a second chamber formed in the hollow member.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,843,281, issued to Amy E. Gallois, Jul. 15, 1958, entitled “Nursing bottle”, discloses a nursing bottle having means for retaining the nipple in the bottle when the nipple is not in use, while also preventing the fluid within the bottle from contacting the nipple. Gallois further disclose a nursing bottle having a container secured to the sealed lower end thereof so that liquid or solids may be carried in conjunction with the bottle for use with the fluid carried in the bottle for feeding a baby.
In a Patent Application publication No. 20070221603 by inventor Kimberly Moss, dated Sep. 27, 2007, entitled “Baby bottle with side by side and attached compartments”, Moss discloses a dual side by side chambered baby bottle with two substantially semi-cylindrical feeding reservoirs. Moss further discloses a baby bottle and container assembly having a fluid chamber with dual concentric threaded means at its lower end to receive either a standard size baby food jar, or food container with a larger threaded opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,150,369, issued to Fryar; Kimberly C., dated Dec. 19, 2006, entitled “Dual chamber infant bottle”, discloses a dual chamber infant bottle for minimizing contamination of an entire batch of baby formula or milk includes an upper feeding reservoir with a conventional baby bottle nipple coupled to the top end thereof. The lower end of the feeding reservoir includes a base portion having an opening therethrough for receiving fluid from a storage reservoir. A valve assembly is removable disposed between the storage reservoirs and feeding reservoir for allowing selective flow therebetween.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,478, issued to Aljadi; Salma E., dated Feb. 19, 2008, entitled “Dual chamber nursery bottle”, discloses a dual chamber nursery bottle including upper and lower cylindrical shaped chambers disposed on a common axis one above the other and separated from one another by a rotating valve assembly that is disposed on the common axis and in contact with the upper and lower chambers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,439, issued to Yaniv; Wendy Solomon, dated Sep. 12, 2000, entitled “Baby bottle and milk storage assembly”, discloses baby bottle and milk storage where the bottle assembly is configured such that a plurality of bottle segments may be joined in fluid communication in an end to end fashion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,068, issued to Kohus; Louis M., dated Oct. 18, 1998, entitled “Baby-feeding bottle”, discloses a segmented baby feeding bottle with a lower part and an upper part when assembled to each other, at a threaded connection, provide a container of larger capacity. A collar is mountable on either of the lower and upper parts. The upper part defines a receptor for mounting on the lower part to provide a container of larger capacity. To this extent, the upper part may only be used when attached to the lower part. More specifically, the upper part alone may not be used for either storage or dispensation of liquid nutrients.
There are number of cap assembly patent issued but one in particular having multiple cap members is U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,393, Issued to Cho; Young Kook, Sep. 20, 2005, entitled“Cap device for attachment to a container”, discloses a device having an upper cap member connected to a middle cap member and middle cap member connected to a lower cap member and the lower cap member covering and sealing a neck of a container. A chamber for storing a predetermined substances defined by the connection of the middle cap member to the upper cap member. An aperture formed on the top plate member of the middle cap member. A sliding door placed on the top plate member for covering the aperture and enclosing the chamber with the door movable to an open position for discharge of any contents in the chamber. The lower cap member having an aperture formed therethrough for passage of any contents discharged through the aperture of the middle cap member into the container.
As Indicated above, a number of dual chamber bottles exist in the prior art. However, the dual chamber bottles referenced above either provide two beverage compartments or allow communication between contents of two chambers. Nowhere in the prior art is seen a nursery bottle having multiple dry storage compartment for keeping nipple and pacifier sanitized for a later use.